Fumes force emergency landing for Virgin Blue plane

A VIRGIN Blue plane had to make an emergency landing in Melbourne this morning when a pilot noticed a strange smell on the aircraft.

The Boeing 737 flight DJ807 from Melbourne to Sydney was carrying 122 passengers and had been in the air for about 20 minutes when the captain decided to turn the plane around, Virgin Blue spokesman Colin Lippiatt said.

"Shortly after take-off the captain detected an unusual smell and as a precautionary measure he advised passengers he would be returning to Melbourne to get it checked out,'' he said.

"The engineers are trying to detect the source of the odour but the aircraft was operating as normal.''

The plane was due to leave at 6.30am and passengers got off the flight back in Melbourne shortly after 7am, Melbourne Airport spokesman Trevor Stafford said.